Do you know what we need more of in this world? Do you? I’ll tell you: more brands that risk their future for believing in their vision. Every. Single. Day. Brands which were born from a desire to create an ecosystem around one single idea, a simple concept, which we can all grasp and instantly understand when looking at any of their horological creations. Whatever is the opposite of those that play it safe by constantly homaging specific models or play too big and never go home for they are driven by greed. Because what ties all best microbrands together is their dedication to realizing one’s personal vision regardless of costs and the difficulty of the challenge, and which stick to it throughout the development of their brand and collections. Too often we see brands start with a great idea, gain traction then success, then make a couple of decisions which make them depart from what made them great (and unique) in the first place. Money generally rules over ideas unfortunately but not for all of them. 

Well isn’t this a powerful start to introduce the brand we’re going to be discussing today? You bet your ass it is because Sphaera—the brand in question—is a small fish in a big pond as well as a whale in a drop of water. On the one hand, the Austrian microbrand lives by a simple yet profound idea of durable and loyal multi-disciplinary utilitarian watches which can be it for everything. On the other hand, Sphaera’s collections cannot be had for the price of the latest AliExpress Seiko Willard’s homage special whose value surpasses that of most horological creations since the dawn of timekeeping. Instead, Sphaera believes in the hand-made and locally-sourced for as much of a watch it is possible to get manufactured and finished in Austria, as we saw with the Desk Diver and Epoch Sports Monochrome. The brand also strongly believes in thinking outside-the-box as well as thinking within its own little one to create unique timepieces. Sphaera is thus full of beautiful contradictions which make it truly special. 

That’s what we’re going to talk about when speaking about the Meridian. 

Specifications 

If you look back at the aforementioned Desk Diver and Epoch Sports Monochrome, as well as the Epoch Classic Rusty, something becomes immediately and abundantly clear: whatever style of watch Sphaera gets into, it complements a bespoke design language with a highly comprehensive suite of technical specifications. In order to, as mentioned in the introduction, make any of its models the only model you need for the rest of your life. Because even though we live in a consumerist world and collect useless objects—watches—we can become a bit more responsible financially and morally better by reducing the number of timekeeping devices we own should we actually find the ones that work for us and for the world. In the world, that is. Watches that require more money to acquire but which will last longer and better fulfill our actual needs instead of amassing meh watches in watch boxes which are constantly overflowing. Of course, you do whatever god damn thing you want to do but I wanted to give you some food for thought. 

With that said, let’s go over the technical 411 of the Sphaera Meridian to better understand what it can do for us. As mentioned, the Austrian brand asks for more dough for its watches than the latest Explorer 1 homage because it sources the good stuff. (You can’t have a three-star five-course meal with canned food.) For the brand does indeed plan for you to wear its creations for as many years as possible and do loads of stuff with them. And you won’t feel comfortable taking your watch to climb a volcano or repel down the Empire State Building should you not trust what it is made out of. For starters, a good movement, for example the manual-wind Sellita SW216 (4Hz/42 hours of power reserve) which comes with decorated Côte de Genève bridges which you can actually look at through a sapphire case-back which is a neat little gift to make for the wearer. The choice of this movement already shows Sphaera’s unique thinking process: using a small-seconds caliber for a tool watch which is a rarity in the microbrand world. 

And the reason for that choice of caliber will make sense in a little bit. 

What should make sense right away is the comprehensiveness of the spec sheet Sphaera thought through: excellent applications of BGW9 on the hands and applied markers so that their white diurnal tint aids with reading the time so does their powerful blue nocturnal glow. And we can easily read the time for the crystal is made of a clear piece of boxed sapphire complemented by several layers of inner anti-reflective coating. The aforementioned see-through case-back screws down but the crown doesn’t, which doesn’t prevent the Meridian to boast a sufficient 100 meters of water resistance which is enough for volcano-climbing and Empire State-repelling. And the crown shouldn’t be threaded since we are invited to interact with the movement on a daily basis, by way of a conical and knurled piece of metal which is easy to grip which is all what we ask it to be. Lastly, the Meridian wears superbly on my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist on account of the following dimensions: 38mm in diameter, 45mm lug-to-lug, 12mm thick, and a 20mm lug width. 

Design 

Before we continue we must add a key piece of information as to the origin of the Meridian which will explain how it guided the brand to figure out its technical specifications and design language. One of the brand’s founders' grandfather served in the German-Austrian army during World War II, and upon being injured, was asked by his commanding officer to bring his field watch to Salzburg to get it serviced. Something which sounds like a bizarre mission should we not put things into context: back then, mostly only officers wore watches and they played a key role in their job on the front line, so much so that the commanding officer thought it would be safer to ask a wounded soldier to get it serviced rather than shipping it. The grandfather made it to Salzburg and got the watch serviced, but was never able to return it to the officer, either because the latter had perished on the battlefield or the war had finally ended. The man kept the watch along with the service receipt which was passed onto Sphaera’s co-founder. 

Although there is a small gap in the story—for it is not sure why exactly the watch was never returned to the commanding officer—it dictated two core elements of the Meridian’s design and specifications which are intertwined: Sphaera’s desire to pay homage to World War II-era field watches which often had small-seconds sub-registers at the six (think of the uber iconic Dirty Dozen) and thus led the brand to opt for a manual-wind caliber, as many movements of that era were also manually-wound. (I will refer you to the Praesidus A-11 Type 44 as an example.) This further led the Austrian team to decide of the Meridian’s design ethos and horological soul: to make a modern interpretation of what a World War II-era field watch could have looked like today should these models have continued to be manufactured by the same brands and had evolved through the decades. Sphaera’s leadership was severely seduced by the reality that soldiers who wore field watches during the war kept wearing them after it, with a uniform or a suit. 

I too am severely seduced by that idea. 

All of this therefore explains what Sphaera wanted to create, and we already know it achieved that goal from a technical side—for the Meridian is robust and equipped with the good stuff. So now we must turn our attention to its design which I’ve been anxiously waiting to do for at least five minutes! Knowing what we know about the Meridian, we thus find a clean, legible, and modern interpretation of a battlefield-destined tool watch which looks modern and versatile so that it can easily slide into your lifestyle regardless of what it is that you do. In true field-watch tradition, the dial boasts a finely textured flat black background, save for the sub-register which is pan-shaped and recessed within it. All smaller markings are painted in white to be visible but not obtrusive, while a series of fully-brushed applied hour markers pop from the dial and are matched with a yellow rectangles and a set of brushed syringe-style hour and minute hands which were fattened at their base and tapered to be extremely legible. 

The choice of shapes of the markers denotes again Sphaera’s willingness to create a modern and versatile version of a field watch, for there are rectangles at the three, six, and nine, a large “12” made of Arabic numerals to aid with orientation, and bullet-shaped markers everywhere else. Thus guaranteeing superlative legibility for the dial without leaning too heavily into the military type of horological design by way of a full set of numerals. I’m particularly fond of the fully brushed and matte treatment of the dial which is answered by a predominantly brushed case from Sphaera’s bespoke design catalog. What I loved about it with the Desk Diver and Epoch Sport Monochrome are the meaty rounded lugs which showcase sharp angles on their inner side, and the overall beefy nature of its design. Though for once the Austrian brand added a bit of polishing to complement the superb radial, horizontal, and vertical brushing work: at the base of the fixed bezel and upper section of the metal ring sitting around the crystal. 

The Heart of the Matter

I hate to break it to you friends but bespoke design, good specs, and a great majority of a watch being manufactured locally to the brand cannot not come at a certain price. Remember that three-star five-course dinner I mentioned earlier? If composed of original recipes and the best of ingredients, it will come with a price tag so high that you won’t be able to think about planning another vacation for the next decade. If it comes with borrowed recipes and canned foods, it will be as memorable as when you got your wisdom teeth removed. So there has to be a middle-ground, a space for bespoke horology to thrive, an environment within which authenticity and originality can exist and perdure for as long as humanely possible. This is the type of horology Sphaera preaches and I’m all here for it and you should be as well if you’re reading these words. Their stuff is the good stuff and thus is price as such: €2,200/$2,514 USD for which you get, as perhaps it should be repeated: original design, great specifications, and quality manufacturing and finishing. 

Good horology does come with a cost albeit a reasonable one all things considered with the Meridian. 

Conclusion 

The last thing I would like to share about the Sphaera Meridian, because a lot has been said about it already, is the fact that it is readily available for purchase at the time of publishing this review. A small luxury within the microbrand watch world which demonstrates a final key philosophical element which can explain Sphaera to those who don’t know it yet: the brand believes in what drives it to make watches and it wants you to be able to experience it right away. Enough said I believe.

Thanks for reading.